• Welcome to the Cricket Web forums, one of the biggest forums in the world dedicated to cricket.

    You are currently viewing our boards as a guest which gives you limited access to view most discussions and access our other features. By joining our free community you will have access to post topics, respond to polls, upload content and access many other special features. Registration is fast, simple and absolutely free so please, join the Cricket Web community today!

    If you have any problems with the registration process or your account login, please contact us.

Rank the world's first class competitions in order

silentstriker

The Wheel is Forever
County Cricket's good, but they overly rely on Kolpak's and overseas pro's.
Sort of what makes it good, quality is higher.

People who rate Indian domestic stuff over county cricket are plain wrong IMO. Every Indian player who visits county cricket attests to the superior level of play, professionalism, facilities, resources, coaching, techniques, etc.

I don't think it's even a comparison. People shouldn't let the current #1 ranking fool them into giving it more credence than it deserves.
 

morgieb

Request Your Custom Title Now!
Sort of what makes it good, quality is higher.

People who rate Indian domestic stuff over county cricket are plain wrong IMO. Every Indian player who visits county cricket attests to the superior level of play, professionalism, facilities, resources, coaching, techniques, etc.

I don't think it's even a comparison. People shouldn't let the current #1 ranking fool them into giving it more credence than it deserves.
While the Ranji Trophy is pretty average, Duleep's fairly gun ITBT.
 

silentstriker

The Wheel is Forever
Nowhere near as county cricket in terms of professionalism, resources, coaching, modern methodologies in training, etc.

Seriously, I don't think it's even remotely the same class. Everyone who visits County Cricket admits it first up. Hell, even our Test team players go to county cricket and problems are identified and fixed that no one bothered about in Indian cricket.

That's what happens when the physio is the son of the board treasurer, etc.
 

Aritro

International Regular
I'd like to hear from some Sri Lankans as well. I've heard conflicting reports about their first class league, ranging from people extolling it's efficiency and professionalism and the high concentration of talent it has in its relatively few teams, to people decrying how rag-tag it is.
 

morgieb

Request Your Custom Title Now!
I'd like to hear from some Sri Lankans as well. I've heard conflicting reports about their first class league, ranging from people extolling it's efficiency and professionalism and the high concentration of talent it has in its relatively few teams, to people decrying how rag-tag it is.
Too many bowlers who can't make the national side average ~ 20. Few batsman average > 35. It's pretty dire.

Although this is coming from an Aussie. :p
 

DaRick

State Vice-Captain
Too many bowlers who can't make the national side average ~ 20. Few batsman average > 35. It's pretty dire.

Although this is coming from an Aussie. :p
The SL comp is strange. I have heard that the pitches play a part in it.

Anyway, the Sheffield Shield is the best, followed by county cricket. Not entirely sure where the rest would rank, although I wouldn't expect NZ's to be anything too special (despite being a first-world country) and know that the Indian domestic comp is risible and that PAK's is even worse and pretty disjointed. WI's suffers because of the uneven HDI and prosperity of the countries involved (not to mention the degradation of cricketing institutions across schools and the like), although there is some young talent coming through. As for SA, I don't know too much, but they may be the third-best - they are still a third-world country, so I don't think they'd be any higher.
 
Last edited:

honestbharani

Whatever it takes!!!
For people who think the Duleep means something... It lasts just about a month at the most.. You guys seriously think it encourages any real kind of team work? It is all about individuals in these zonal games, if truth be told...
 

Furball

Evil Scotsman
My point about the Duleep Trophy was that right now, if you had all players available, the teams themselves (particularly North and South, to a lesser extent West) would be incredibly strong, as opposed to the competition necessarily being a strong one.
 

Manee

Cricketer Of The Year
Regarding standard of cricket, played in the majority of recent years (rearranging Richard's list)...

Australian state cricket
South African franchise cricket
English county cricket
Indian zonal cricket
Indian state cricket
New Zealand district cricket
West Indian territorial cricket
Pakistani whatever-it-is-this-season cricket
South African provincial cricket
English minor county cricket
Sri Lankan whatever-it-is-this-season cricket
 

Manee

Cricketer Of The Year
My point about the Duleep Trophy was that right now, if you had all players available, the teams themselves (particularly North and South, to a lesser extent West) would be incredibly strong, as opposed to the competition necessarily being a strong one.
But this is hardly ever the case, unfortunately.
 

Manee

Cricketer Of The Year
For people who think the Duleep means something... It lasts just about a month at the most.. You guys seriously think it encourages any real kind of team work? It is all about individuals in these zonal games, if truth be told...
Yes, remember Aakash Chopra, IIRC, doing an excellent article on how the Duleep Trophy promotes individualism.
 

Richard

Cricket Web Staff Member
People who rate Indian domestic stuff over county cricket are plain wrong IMO. Every Indian player who visits county cricket attests to the superior level of play, professionalism, facilities, resources, coaching, techniques, etc.
Really? Still? 15 years ago I'd have expected nothing but; even just 7-8 years ago I'd not have been remotely surprised. But everything I've heard seems to suggest the attention-to-detail and "professionalism" (in terms of attention-to-detail) paid to Indian domestic cricket in recent years has improved beyond recognition.
 

Richard

Cricket Web Staff Member
For people who think the Duleep means something... It lasts just about a month at the most.. You guys seriously think it encourages any real kind of team work? It is all about individuals in these zonal games, if truth be told...
In some respects, that's the idea. The greater individual competition, the stronger a domestic game.
 

Manee

Cricketer Of The Year
Really? Still? 15 years ago I'd have expected nothing but; even just 7-8 years ago I'd not have been remotely surprised. But everything I've heard seems to suggest the attention-to-detail and "professionalism" (in terms of attention-to-detail) paid to Indian domestic cricket in recent years has improved beyond recognition.
Both Zaheer Khan and RP Singh came on leaps and bounds from their county stints. RP Singh especially benefitted from the superior fitness training which managed to isolate and improve the strength of his right leg.
 

silentstriker

The Wheel is Forever
Really? Still? 15 years ago I'd have expected nothing but; even just 7-8 years ago I'd not have been remotely surprised. But everything I've heard seems to suggest the attention-to-detail and "professionalism" (in terms of attention-to-detail) paid to Indian domestic cricket in recent years has improved beyond recognition.
Yes. Every player. Every single one that I have seen talk about it, says so.

Look at RP Singh (as an example). He got to the Test side and played Tests and all of a sudden he went to county cricket and they identified a weakness in his thighs, which they remedied with a proper workout plan and he says it doubled his stamina and endurance. Zaheer Khan would not be half the bowler he is today without Worcestershire, and he says that too.

The problem is there is no accountability. You don't get the job because you're the most qualified, you get it based on who you know. There are ex-Test stars who've come out and said that they have no idea what to do if they want to get involved in their local Test associations unless they personally know the home minister. It's not great, the increased performance of the Indian Test team should not mask the massive shortcomings of the domestic structure.

One of the reasons I like the IPL as I do (not the format mind you, but the concept) is because it's much more transparent and professionally result based. You actually do get people hired based on their qualifications (e.g, the physios, coaches, etc) because only thing that matters is winning (winnings means more $$, and for guys like Mallya - prestige), not satisfying the letters of the chief minister.


County Cricket >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Anything domestic in India.

Anyone who disagrees just needs to spend an hour doing some research on the hilarious things that go on in India.
 

Flem274*

123/5
How would you describe it then?
Zonal/provincial.

Wellington plays as it province, but sides like CD, despite the Districts tag, are built up of provinces. It's a composite side.

A district in NZ is part of a province. Eg. New Plymouth, Waitara, Stratford and others are all districts that make up the Taranaki province, which is part of the CD zone.

Wellington and Auckland play as their provinces because they have the population to support it.
 

Goughy

Hall of Fame Member
Its interesting that people have Minor county cricket listed. I left the UK 10 years ago but I doubt much has changed. Its a lower standard than top club cricket and shouldnt be included on lists like this.
 

Top